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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25813924">Don’t Make Promises You Can’t Keep</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/perrysghost/pseuds/perrysghost'>perrysghost</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Newsies, Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Era, Gen, i cried a lot, im so sorry for doing this, jack and race are in the refuge, jack pissed off snyder BIG TIME, javey but not an actual javey interaction it’s just there, killing off my comfort characters is my favourite thing to do at this point, this hurt me so much to write</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:06:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,639</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25813924</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/perrysghost/pseuds/perrysghost</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Promise me, Race. Promise me you’ll bring Jack home.” </p><p>“I promise.”</p><p>Race makes a lot of promises and he never ever breaks them, but there are some promises that even Race can’t keep.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>David Jacobs/Jack Kelly</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Don’t Make Promises You Can’t Keep</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The wait was killing him. It had been three days since anyone had seen Jack and Race was beginning to panic. He knew that Snyder wasn’t going to go easy on Jack- he despised the boy and had spent years trying to make Jack’s life a living hell. </p><p>Jack hadn’t exactly helped himself out when Snyder came into the overcrowded room to take him; he’d argued which had definitely made Snyder angry. That damn mouth of his would end up getting him into some serious trouble some day. Snyder had been red with rage and Race was sure he’d seen steam coming out of his ears. He was sure even Jack knew he’d gone too far this time as soon as he grabbed the boys arm and dragged him off. </p><p>Race thought that Jack would’ve returned later that night, but the only thing he heard all night long was Jack screaming in agony echoing up from the basement. Even though Race couldn’t see what was happening, he knew it was so much worse than anything Snyder had done before. Jack never screamed. He knew Snyder enjoyed it so much more when his victim was screaming and begging him to stop, so he never screamed. He didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much pain he was causing. </p><p>Race didn’t sleep that night; he couldn’t. He couldn’t block out Jack’s screams. He couldn’t block out the thoughts of what Snyder could be doing to his best friend. Snyder wasn’t only hurting Jack, he was hurting Race too. He knew that the best way to hurt Race was to hurt the people he was closest to because he knew there was nothing Race could do to stop it happening. He was helpless. </p><p>Race spent the whole night curled up in the corner of his bunk, covering his ears with his hands in an attempt to block out Jack’s screaming, but it was no use. He couldn’t escape the thoughts in his mind telling him that this was his fault; that he should have stopped it. He tried so hard to sleep to stop the torture he was putting himself through, but he just couldn’t. This was exactly what Snyder wanted. </p><p>The next day was no different. All day long, Race would hear Snyder’s muffled voice before a quick pause and then the part he dreaded the most; Jack’s screams. They were unlike anything he’d ever heard before. They weren’t just the screams of someone in pain- they were the screams of a child. A child who had been broken by years and years of this torture. </p><p>At around noon, one of the smaller kids made his way over to Race to tell him there was someone at the window for him. He gave the young boy, Charms, a nod and a weak smile before heading over to the window. As soon as he saw who was waiting for him, Race almost burst into tears. It was the one person he didn’t want to come to the refuge. </p><p>It was Davey. </p><p>“Race?”</p><p>“Dave you shouldn’t be here. I cant have you getting caught.. Jack would never forgive me.” Race whispered, a look of concern settling on his face. </p><p>“I’m not staying long. I just had to check on you and Jack. I had to make sure you were okay.” He began before looking around with the hope of seeing his boyfriend, “Where’s Ja-“ The boy was cut off by a sound that broke his heart. He knew the scream belonged to Jack, but he didn’t want to believe it. He wouldn’t believe it. </p><p>“Davey I..” Race began, locking eyes with the taller boy, “You need to go. I promise you I’m gonna get Jack out, okay?”</p><p>“Promise me, Race. Promise me you’ll bring Jack home.” His voice was thick and Race could tell he was holding back tears. </p><p>“I will. I promise you I’ll get him out as soon as I can.”</p><p>Davey didn’t say anything. He just nodded at Race before turning away and leaving as fast as he could; he didn’t want to leave Jack behind, but he couldn’t risk getting caught. </p><p>Race stood at the window for a few moments more, watching Davey and making sure he got out safely. Once he had seen Davey run around the corner and out of his sight, Raceturbed around and silently made his way back to his bunk, sitting in the corner as he had been doing previously. </p><p>For the rest of the day, Race didn’t move once. He didn’t speak to anyone. He didn’t change the emotionless expression on his face, even when he heard Jack’s screams echoing up from the basement below him. Having to listen to his best friend in so much pain was hurting him worse than Snyder ever could. </p><p>Race didn’t even know how much time had passed, but eventually he looked up and saw everyone else was asleep. He desperately wanted to sleep. He was exhausted, but he couldn’t sleep. If Snyder brought Jack back he had to be awake to help him. It didn’t feel right for Race to sleep while his brother was going through so much. He’d never felt so useless. </p><p>The second night passed and there was still no sign of Jack. The screams hadn’t been as loud as the previous night and Race began to think that maybe, just maybe, Snyder was almost done. He prayed for it to be almost over- for Jack’s sake but also for his. Not even Snyder would keep someone for more than three days. </p><p>It was noon on the third day when Race heard the most agonising scream coming from the basement; it was so much louder than anything he’d heard from Jack in the last day. He knew that Snyder had just done something bad, and he didn’t realise just how bad it must have been until the deafening silence that followed hit him. </p><p>He knew Jack wasn’t okay. He just knew. The wait that followed was killing him. If Snyder was done with Jack, why wasn’t he bringing him back? The rest of the room was sending worried glances over to Race, waiting to see how he was going to react and Race just sat there, emotionless and staring blankly into space. </p><p>It hadn’t been more than a few hours, but to Race it felt like days, when he heard someone unlock the door. Every pair of eyes in the room were watching as Snyder threw Jack’s limp body to the floor, a look that could only be described as evil on his face. </p><p>Race, as his name would suggest, raced over to Jack. He’d seen Snyder’s beatings before, but nothing would ever be able to prepare him to see Jack in the state he was in. </p><p>There was blood. So much blood. One of Jack’s eyes was swollen shut and the other was black and blue. His entire face was cut and bruised. This was hurting Race almost as much as it was hurting Jack. He couldn’t bare to see him in so much pain.</p><p>“Jackie.. hey Jackie it’s me Racer.”</p><p>The only response Jack could give was a small groan as he tried to sit up. Race, seeing that he was in pain, shuffled around until Jack’s head was resting in his lap. He ran his fingers through Jack’s hair to try and comfort him and make him feel safe again. </p><p>“Jack you’re gonna be fine.. I promised Davey I’d get you home safe and that’s exactly what’s gonna happen!” He tried to reassure Jack, but he wasn’t completely convinced himself.</p><p>“Race.. you shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.”</p><p>“But I can keep this one. You’re gonna be back home with everyone else real soon..” Race told him, not sure of who he was trying to convince that it was the truth. </p><p>“No. I’m not gonna make it Race. Snyder got me real bad this time.”</p><p>“But I promised Davey. You’re coming home, Jack.”</p><p>“I can’t..”</p><p>Race was close to tears. No matter how many times he said that Jack was going home, he knew it wasn’t true. Jack wasn’t going to make it out of the Refuge alive and they both knew it. Jack’s breathing was slowing down; he was going to die. </p><p>“Jackie..” Race began, tears streaming down his face, “if you wanna go you can. It’s okay.”</p><p>“I’m sorry Racer. I’m sorry I made you break your promise. Make sure you tell Davey how much i love him, okay?”</p><p>“I will Jack, I promise..”</p><p>Jack’s eyes were beginning to close and Race knew that this was it. He was about to lose his brother. He’d already lost his parents, he couldn’t bring himself to accept that he was going to lose any more of his family. Although they weren’t related by blood, Jack and Race might as well have been. Ever since the day Jack found little Race cowering in an alleyway they had been as thick as thieves and they wouldn’t have it any other way. </p><p>“Close your eyes Jackie.. you can finally go to Santa Fe.. you can finally see your parents again..” he whispered between sobs as he began to feel Jack slip away.</p><p>“Santa Fe.. just like i always wanted. I’ll see you soon, my little sheriff..”</p><p>His eyes closed. He took one last breath. </p><p>And just like that, Jack was gone. Gone to Santa Fe just like he’d planned. It was what he’d always had planned. When he was done being a newsie he was going to buy a one way ticket to Santa Fe to go live the life he always wanted. </p><p>It wasn’t the way he’d planned it, but Jack had finally gone to Santa Fe. But not the real Santa Fe;</p><p>he’d gone to his Santa Fe.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>so yeah </p><p>that just happened </p><p>i’m so sorry it’s okay if you hate me for it. i wrote this in one go at like 2am so if it’s not the best shh enjoy it anyway. i really hope you enjoyed it as much as you actually could with this :)) </p><p>twitter @/albdasllva</p></blockquote></div></div>
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